Quinoa Fritters or Scramble

I love Donna Hay – before there was an iPad app, I used to have to hunt down the print issues as soon as a new one came out, or my family would find it for me, because once it was gone, it was gone. Since the iPad app, I no longer have hunt down the latest issue, knowing it is only a download away, not to mention with exclusive features like beautiful animation and videos accompanying recipes.

One of the winning streaks about Donna Hay is the simplicity of her recipes. You’ll never find anything overly complicated or fussy, only recipes that are easy to prepare and nothing short of inspiring.

Take these quinoa fritters, for example, which also work just as well as a scramble if you’re not in the mood for fritters or don’t feel like shaping fritters. Quinoa is mixed with cut up bacon, mashed white kidney (cannellini) beans, broccoli, and cheese (the original recipe uses mozzarella but the Gruyere I had on hand also worked). I was lucky to get the one photo at the top of this post, since it was all gone quickly. Everybody liked it. I know I’ll be making them again, at some point.

The only note I should add is about the beans. There was a fair bit of running around to find cannellini beans. I only realized as I was writing this post that they’re also known as white kidney beans (and I have seen them before, usually right next to the usual – red – kidney beans)! Depending on your area, then, the terminology might be different: so if you can’t find cannellini beans, you might be able to find white kidney beans and vise versa. If you can’t find them at all, I’m sure that another white bean such as navy beans (or haricots, as they’re known in Britian, not to be confused with the French haricots vert) would work.

By the way, I’ve written this post entirely (including all the formatting) within the WordPress iOS app, so if anything looks strange as in something hasn’t formatted correctly, let me know and I’ll fix it as soon as I can. I’ll be updating it later with the printer friendly version of the recipe.

Fry chopped bacon over medium heat in a fry pan, until golden. Save any bacon fat for frying.

Mix the bacon with the mashed beans, broccoli, quinoa, cheese, egg, and basil in a large bowl. Shape into fritters, using 2 tablespoons per. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Heat the leftover bacon fat with olive oil over medium heat. Cook the fritters in batches for 2 to 3 minutes each, or until golden brown. Use more oil as necessary. (If using a stainless steel fry pan, like me, you will need more oil than if you are using nonstick.)

If you would prefer a scramble instead of fritters, follow the directions above but instead of shaping the mixture into fritters, simply fry it in batches until the quinoa is golden and everything smells wonderful. Serve and dress with a little tomato sauce or a poached egg.

I am not used to Quinoa like my Mom is, so when I made it I added more bacon and a little chicken soup stock for added flavour. She loved both versions! I also am glad to find the Donna Hay app because her magazine is a lot pricier in Canada and it is such a savings for me. I think these would make great little appetizers or even sliders with some melted cheese on top and green onions added. Thanks for a new recipe, Z!